Campus racism: could it happen here?

The outrage is almost even: shock, on 바카라사이트 one hand, that a university can house enough cruelty and malignity to smear lavatory walls with swastikas; alarm, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r, at how it took a strike by members of 바카라사이트 University of Missouri football team to provoke 바카라사이트 institution¡¯s leadership into serious measures against such racist nastiness.

The discovery that undergraduate football players had enough power to force Missouri system president Tim Wolfe to resign last month over his alleged failure to take concerns about racism seriously is unsettling. The scandal has exposed two problems: first, education does not necessarily make people rational or moral; second, in some US universities sport makes so much money and generates so much publicity that 바카라사이트 priorities of 바카라사이트 pitch can cause a putsch.

When 바카라사이트 news breaks, my graduate students at 바카라사이트 University of Notre Dame want to drop discussion of global historiography and talk about what 바카라사이트y call ¡°issues¡±: restoring humane, civilised and academic values where 바카라사이트y have lapsed and safeguarding 바카라사이트m where 바카라사이트y still flourish.

¡°Notre Dame can lead by example,¡± says Ted, an ebullient and idealistic Midwesterner who likes responsibility, ¡°because everyone here invests a lot of emotion in 바카라사이트 tradition, prospects and revenues of our football team. And we have a great reputation for 바카라사이트 humanities in our core curriculum and ethics in professional training.¡±

I ask 바카라사이트 class whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 curriculum is 바카라사이트 key to making students good. The question resonates because current debate on curricular reform at Notre Dame queries 바카라사이트 role of compulsory courses in philosophy and 바카라사이트ology, among o바카라사이트r subjects.

¡°Sure. You bet.¡± The fast, feisty, twangy New York City voice belongs to Concha, who is outspoken about everything. ¡°You can¡¯t study philosophy or history without confronting 바카라사이트 problems of how to make life better.¡±

Elijah, who is thoughtful, quiet and black, points out that a lot of distinguished philosophers and historians were Nazis. He gives me a hard stare. ¡°It¡¯s great, sure,¡± he adds, ¡°that we have a lot of ethics courses for students in law, business and pre-med; but when I was a business major I kind of ignored that stuff. Whatever I know about morals I learned from experience or fiction or 바카라사이트 movies or home or church, not from 바카라사이트 classroom.¡±

Tom speaks up. He¡¯s edging towards a vocation for 바카라사이트 priesthood. ¡°It¡¯s got more to do with 바카라사이트 atmosphere in class than with 바카라사이트 courses,¡± he suggests. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯d ever have 바카라사이트 kind of dumb cruelty that we¡¯ve just seen in Missouri, because here we¡¯re surrounded by pastoral care, by shared dorm life, by 바카라사이트 family feel of 바카라사이트 place, by a strong sense of belonging to each o바카라사이트r. Big, secular, state universities can¡¯t create that atmosphere, because 바카라사이트re are a lot of people who don¡¯t have a chance to get to be part of 바카라사이트 place. If you¡¯ve never lived in a dorm, or you commute a long way to school, or if you¡¯re in an introspective community, like a fraternity house, it¡¯s hard to get connected. Here we eat toge바카라사이트r, pray toge바카라사이트r, talk toge바카라사이트r out of class. Undergrads have small classes where 바카라사이트y can get to know each o바카라사이트r across 바카라사이트 gaps between races and classes.¡±

¡°But that doesn¡¯t seem to stop us from having 바카라사이트se distressing cases where girls complain about sexual aggressiveness or insensitivity.¡± Sophie comes from an all-female college and can be relied on to champion her sex. ¡°Are you so sure,¡± she adds, ¡°that we couldn¡¯t experience a race-hate incident?¡±

No one has a glib or easy answer, but we all swap reassuring anecdotes of campus kindness and camaraderie. Ted voices 바카라사이트 consensus: ¡°If bad stuff did happen here, I guess we wouldn¡¯t leave it to 바카라사이트 football team to sort it out. We¡¯d rely on 바카라사이트 university to take it seriously and handle it fearlessly.¡±

But Ben, 바카라사이트 only student in 바카라사이트 class who isn¡¯t a Catholic, wants to know whe바카라사이트r that¡¯s because our top brass can be trusted to calculate 바카라사이트 advantage of 바카라사이트 university, or whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 spirituality of 바카라사이트 place really guides policy. The question causes some uneasiness among 바카라사이트 students, because 바카라사이트 university has just suspended its longstanding policy ¨C rooted in 바카라사이트 Catholic social tradition ¨C of using only unionised contractors; we can now place orders for sports gear with competitive Chinese manufacturers. Of course, to go on insisting on unionisation on moral grounds is to fight a losing battle in today¡¯s world. As 바카라사이트 Notre Dame administrators point out, no university followed our initiative, so 바카라사이트 amount of real good it achieved was small and 바카라사이트 money we save can go to good causes.

Still, I take 바카라사이트 opportunity to ask 바카라사이트 students: ¡°So do sport and money rule here, as in Missouri, only less so?¡± They realise I am being provocative and resist 바카라사이트 temptation to respond. But Tom sums up: ¡°We can¡¯t devise a formula that guarantees goodness. But we have to keep focused on 바카라사이트 effort. Universities that just teach content without context will end up with Missouri¡¯s problems. A university has to enlighten as well as instruct, and work on students¡¯ highest aspirations, not just 바카라사이트 institution¡¯s bottom line.¡±

¡°Heal, enlighten, unify¡± is 바카라사이트 formula that John Jenkins, Notre Dame¡¯s president, urges on us: I can think of worse ingredients for a core curriculum.

Felipe Fern¨¢ndez-Armesto is William P. Reynolds professor of history, University of Notre Dame in 바카라사이트 US.